http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/
After Iraq elections, Al Qaida targets Gulf states hosting U.S. bases Khalid Al Douseri has been assigned by Al Qaida to lead a terror campaign in Kuwait, Western intelligence sources say. Al Douseri's mission is part of an Al Qaida strategy to expand the Islamic insurgency beyond Iraq and Saudi Arabia to Gulf Arab states. It could mark a new focus for the movement following the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq. Al Douseri has determined that Gulf Arab regimes are vulnerable to terrorist strikes. Western intelligence sources said Al Qaida and its key allies have assessed that the smaller GCC states could collapse a lot sooner than Saudi Arabia, which has been successful in foiling numerous Al Qaida attacks. Al Qaida has assigned Al Douseri the task of destabilizing Kuwait and force it to expel U.S. and other Western forces. Al Douseri was trained and financed by Al Qaida in Saudi Arabia and he has already built a small but formidable network in Kuwait. A similar Al Qaida network has been established in Oman, which also has a large U.S. military presence. So far, Kuwait has arrested nearly 200 suspected Al Qaida operatives and their supporters. Many of the suspects have been released, but at least 14 hard-core terrorists remain in detention. They reportedly revealed Al Qaida plans to attack U.S. soldiers and military convoys in Kuwait. The United States has a considerable presence in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. military has about 20,000 soldiers in the sheikdom. About 13,000 Americans live in Kuwait, many of whom have been contractors in Kuwait's defense and energy sectors. For Al Qaida, Kuwait is a choice target. The sheikdom is a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Kuwait was the only Arab country that openly supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Since 2002, a U.S. Marine and a Defense Department civilian contractor were killed in Kuwait by Al Qaida operatives. The latest plan began with meetings by Al Douseri with Al Qaida commanders in Saudi Arabia. Over the last six months, the Al Qaida network in Saudi Arabia has been on the ropes, pursued by U.S. and Saudi intelligence and elite forces. With four of five Al Qaida cells eliminated, many Al Qaida operatives have fled Saudi Arabia to battle the United States in Iraq. The Al Qaida commanders in Saudi Arabia told Al Douseri that the strategy was changing. In the words of a Kuwaiti security source involved in the interrogations of Al Qaida operatives, Al Douseri was told to acquire ice trucks and fill them with explosives. The trucks would crash into U.S. military convoys in Kuwait. Al Qaida in Iraq trained operatives for assignment in Kuwait. The source said Al Qaida trained at least 25 people for attacks on U.S. military convoys near the northern Kuwaiti border with Iraq. "The thinking of the Saudis [in Al Qaida] was why go to Iraq when there are so many U.S. military targets in Kuwait," the Kuwaiti source said. Al Qaida sent operatives from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait to build the network. Recruits were obtained from Kuwaiti high schools, mosques and universities. Al Douseri was deemed head of the Al Qaida cell with two other commanders, Muhsen Al Fadli and Mohammed Al Harbi. Al Douseri's key lieutenant was identified as Maqboul Al Maqboul, captured by Kuwaiti police in January. Al Douseri already proved his skills to Al Qaida. Over the last 18 months, Al Douseri was Al Qaida's recruiter in Kuwait for volunteers to fight the U.S. military in Iraq. He has recruited hundreds of young Kuwaitis in mosques and schools. Authorities have been seeking Al Douseri since July 2004. Kuwaiti intelligence believes Al Qaida also recruited so-called Bedouins, or stateless residents, to carry out attacks against U.S. military targets. These residents, many of them Egyptians, work cheaply and are willing to do the dirty work required for terrorist attacks. The Egyptians were recruited for suicide attacks against the U.S. military as well as Kuwaiti security forces, the sources said. They said many of details of the Al Qaida strategy were obtained from the interrogation of Amr Al Enezi, a commander of a major Al Qaida cell. Al Enezi reportedly identified Douseri and Fadli as the leaders of the entire network. So far, actions by Kuwaiti authorities have been impressive. Unlike Saudi Arabia, the sheikdom responded quickly to U.S. and British warnings of an Al Qaida attack. Kuwait received and utilized help from Britain, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Saudi intelligence provided Kuwait with the identities of Al Qaida operatives believed to have entered the sheikdom in late 2004. The result has been repeated Kuwaiti raids of Al Qaida strongholds. On Feb. 5, Kuwaiti security forces raided a suspected stronghold outside Kuwait City and arrested five suspected operatives, capturing weapons and about $50,000. Three of the Al Qaida suspects were Jordanians and two were Saudis, who were hiding in the area populated by stateless residents west of the capital. The Saudis were said to have worked in the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry in the 1980s. The Kuwaiti raid was the fifth major operation this year by security forces against Al Qaida. An Interior Ministry statement said all of those arrested were deemed fugitives. Four Kuwaiti security officers have been killed in the clashes with Al Qaida gunmen. Kuwaiti Interior Minister Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah said eight Al Qaida operatives were killed and another 14 detained. Nawaf said one of those detained was a leader of the network. The minister said last week that two Al Qaida commanders were still at large. Despite the raids against its strongholds, Al Qaida is far from out in Kuwait, Western intelligence sources said. The insurgents might be shifting their strategy and would now attack so-called soft targets in the sheikdom as well as in other Gulf Cooperation Council states. Documents captured in Al Qaida strongholds tell of plans to abduct and execute Western nationals, particularly American soldiers. As a result, the United States has been quietly reducing its military presence while maintaining a lower profile in Kuwait. From a high of 40,000 in 2003, the Pentagon maintains fewer than 20,000 soldiers in the sheikdom. Estimates of the U.S. military presence in Kuwait have been as few as 18,000, a reduction of about 10,000 soldiers over the last six months. "There's a feeling that a large-scale U.S. military presence in Kuwait is untenable even in the mid-term," a Western diplomat said. 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